Francisco Jimenez has written two previous autobiographical
novels titled The Circuit and Breaking Through, this being his third novel in
the series. Unfortunately, I have not read his first two novels, although this
did not hinder the reading experience. Francisco Jimenez is a Mexican that
immigrated to the United States in the early 1950’s with his parents and his
brothers Roberto and Trampita. They’ve faced many challenges and have endured
poverty and other hardships throughout Francisco’s life. This novel focuses on
Francisco transition into becoming a college student in hopes of achieving a
better life to help his family.
Francisco, or ‘Pancho”, travels to Santa Clara University
and leaves his parents and his younger siblings-Trampita, Torito, Ruben and his
sister Rorra. With his family being fairly poor, Francisco starts to feel
uneasy and uncomfortable leaving them to fend for themselves without him. While
away at college he feels the pressure of college life and the constant stress
of his class work. He’ll find faith and encouragement as well as despair and
indecisiveness. Conflicts arise with his family so he struggles with college as
well as his home life. It’s a book around the struggle between feeling
responsibility for your family and the work for a better future.
After finishing this work by Jimenez, I can give my final
evaluation of the novel. Being of Mexican descent just like Francisco, I was
able to build a stronger connection with Pancho than some other readers could.
With that being said, I would say that this book is well written and intriguing
enough for even those that don’t have as strong a connection as I did. I
enjoyed the writing style of Francisco Jimenez and his ability to tell other
stories along with the main, present story. It did not distract from the
regular timeline, and built stronger bond with Francisco and other characters.
I would definitely recommend this book to other people and it’s easier to go
through this book because it is simply 194 pages.
Book Review by Danny S.
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